A 5Yr Old Hoarder?

Go to Lakeshore learning and get an art folder so that he can store his art in that. Tell him that he has to chose what art he wants to keep and that he can only keep it in the folder if the folder gets too full he has to chose what to throw away to put new things in. Give him one drawer to store his other papers (perhaps in a night stand) or a special bag. Same rule here. He only gets to put papers in that one place once it is full he needs to through something away to make room for new stuff. He probably just needs guidance on how to sort through his stuff. Every day after school have him empty out his backpack, go through his materials with him. Help him sort through what is important to keep and what is garbage.

I throw all that stuff away while my son's at school. He's the same way. He even brings home everyone's "unused" pages from their workbooks--yay.

As a recovered hoarder with a mother thats a hoarder and a whole family of hoarders, nip it in the butt now. It gets out of control very quickly. but then it may just be a stage hes going through. Ask him why he feels he needs to keep these things and then explain to him why they need to go in the trash. All hoarders believe they can use there "stuff" or have a use for it for someone else. Be sensitive to his feelings while dealing with it.

My son loves to keep stuff too, and getting rid of them without his participation is not an option because he remembers every little scrap and will be concerned with their disappearance. I think it goes along with many of his other concerns about the big wide world being hard to control, our young children want control but have so little that they can control -- belongings are within his control.

We haven't fixed it yet, but we do tell him that he only has so much space in his room and if he wants a new toy, etc he has to give away 5 toys to kids who need toys in order to get a new one. We make it 5 because the 5 he chooses will usually be tiny broken ones. Even those I keep hidden for a few months before I actually give them away in case he panics that they are gone, but usually if he has chosen to get rid of them everything is fine.

For the papers I would just help him keep them organized. It will be easier for you to go through them a few years from now anyway and choose those that are worth hanging onto.

just help him sort it. pick a number, like he can choose 20 papers to keep. be calm and patient and don't criticize him for anything he has kept. provide him a place to keep the things asap or it will become habit for him to dump things he doesn't know what to do with in that spot.

You really need to help him with this, you don't want this to be his way of life. Go through stuff with him, help him pick out 10 pieces of art/schoolwork that are important to him and have him throw the rest away. You may have to explain why he can't keep them all (messy house, all the papers would fill up the house, couldn't enjoy the important ones, etc).
Then explain why you don't need the toy flyers anymore and throw them all away. He may cry and throw a fit, but you must make him do this. Its better that he learn this now then later in life as an adult.

Can it be worse than our 4 year old daughter wanting to save wrapping paper from a gift she has just opened??? We actually call her a little hoarder....
Just help him throw it away, give him a folder for important stuff :-)